


tears falling down at the party

by gigaremo



Category: Half-Life
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, benrey isnt Technically there but he also Is, gman can be a good dad. as a treat, i guess ??, no beta we die like coomer clones, u can read it like tomrey that wasnt th intent but ur valid nd i love you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:28:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28016235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gigaremo/pseuds/gigaremo
Summary: tommy misses his friend in chuck e cheese and gman gives him a presentrating fr language nd Reference to whole man death, title is from 'oh klahoma' by jack stauber
Comments: 1
Kudos: 34





	tears falling down at the party

“Yo, what’s wrong, bud?”

Tommy lifted his head, eyes still low to his fiddling hands in his lap. The hand on his shoulder, Gordon’s, it was warm, freed from the suit and leaving bare skin to sear through his thin dress shirt. Outside his vision, green eyes looked down, a soft concern wrinkling the brows.

“C.mon, bro, it’s your birthday! I mean, yeah todays been kinda, fucked.” He raised what remained of his right arm to rub at his neck, though the stutter when scar tissue kissed bare neck seemed to imply it wasn’t meant to accessorize the statement, but more an ironic motion painted in the macabre of the past week. “Yeahh… but! You’re the, the birthday boy! Let Gordon help, what’s got you down? Er, what specifically?”

Tommy just breathed in deep, swinging his eyes up to meet Gordon’s, before glancing off to his side, teeth coming out to worry at his bottom lip. “I… I don’t think you’d, you wouldn’t… it won’t make any sense to you, Mr. Freeman…” At the raise of a brow in his peripheral, he elaborated with a shake off the head. “I-I mean… not, not in a mean way, but, you… you wouldn’t understand b-because, it won’t make, sense, to you, like with everything…”

Gordon scoffed a laugh, hand slipping from Tommy. “Trust me, dude, if anything? After, all of that shit, I’ll take just about anything - hit me, anything would make more sense than the shitshow we just directed, produced, and acted in.”

“I wish Benrey was here.”

The drink of soda Gordon was attempting was promptly spat back and choked on. Yep.

Tommy shrugged, handing a still sputtering Gordon a Chuck E. Cheese napkin. “I told you you wouldn’t, u-understand.”

“Benrey?! Fucking Benrey?!” He didn’t think someone could wipe their chin in such a baffled way. “You mean the, the, the fucking, building sized eldritch horror we just killed on an alien planet because HE was trying to kill US, all over a stupid fucking, passport? That Benrey?”

Tommy huffed, easing his eyes to meet Gordons once more. “Yes, that Benrey.” He took an irritated drink of his soda. “Look, I… shit sucked, but… god it’s, it’s all weird, I can’t really… just, I miss him, okay? I, no one wants a f-friend missing from their, birthday party.”

Gordon just kept staring him down with that incredulous look, searching Tommy’s face for, something. “I- okay, so you still consider Benrey a, friend, after alla that shit. I’m, I=I’m not gonna fuckin’, judge you or whatever, I mean… okay I have a lot of choice thoughts about it, but. It’s your birthday, I’m not gonna chew out the birthday boy because of, whatever the fuck you’d call all of this.” He runs a hand half through and half over his hair, ponytail loose but not undone, shaking his head lightly. “Okay, I’m like, absolutely not done processing, that, but whatever, just, what can I do for you Tommy? Don’t think I can magic up a Benrey for you. And I probably wouldn’t if I could, either, but, that doesn’t matter.”

Tommy just looked away, running a hand down his face, the sting behind his eyes creeping in. “You can’t do anything, M-Mr. Freeman. I don’t even know if, if my dad could do anything…” A palm rubbed on his face when the sting surfaced, taking a shaky breath in. “Just… I’d rather, h-have a moment, to myself, please.”

He didn’t need to look up to feel the pity, biting his quivering lip and keeping his eyes tunneled on the cheap Chuck E. Cheese tablecloth, leg starting to bounce from it all.

After a moment, a sigh was heard, hand returning to hold his shoulder. “Okay Tommy, I won’t bother you. Can you approach any of us if you need to, though?” The hand tightened a moment, but quickly softened back out. “Look I, I may not get it, but I still care about you, alright? We all do, so don’t hesitate to ask us for any support or whatever else you need, I… it feels, fuckin’ weird to compare, I’ll admit, but I get how… grief, is, and how hard it is, and you can come to me, okay?” The sincerity and depth of his words burned Tommy’s eyes, had him closing them, tears falling down freckled cheeks.

“Thank you.” It was barely said, a croaked whisper around a tight throat, but Gordon caught it all the same. And with a final squeeze of his shoulder, he left, the sound of boots stepping away confirming his absence.

Tommy dropped his head, letting his forehead rest on the table as he squeezed his eyes close, taking shaky breaths. Hot tears slid for only a moment before falling to gravity, wetting the knee of his khakis as he shuddered. His moment was broken again, this time by a thin, cold hand on his shoulder, a feather light touch.

His dad.

He raised back up, rubbing a palm over his puffy eyes. “Y-yeah, dad? I’m not, feeling so great, c-can it wait, please?” He didn’t look up - neither were very keen on eye contact, and he didn’t want the G-Man to see his wet face, either, even if the fact that he was crying was already known.

The hand on his shoulder pressed the slightest bit harder. “I can, telll… I don’t wish to, bother you, Tommy, I just have a, giiift, to give you.” As he spoke, he laid a small box on the table in front of Tommy, wrapping a mess.

Tommy furrowed his brows. “B-but I thought the gifts were all, all done earlier?” He pulled it forward, thumb flicking at a loose piece of (clearly ripped, not cut) wrapping paper - it was white and covered in bright, multi-colored stars, gaudy ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY!’s littered throughout.

“Thiss is from a, late comer. He can’t, be here himself, sadly, but he did, ppass this onto, me, to give you.” Tommy looked up, surprised by the barely-there crinkle of a smile, a rare warmth on his face. “Well, I’ll leave you to, opening it, yourself, seeing as you, want your, sspace. But, I do think you’ll, like it, hmm?” 

With that, the hand slid off his shoulder, and the G-Man walked off, clasping hands behind his back as he returned to the others.

Tommy looked back down, curiosity newly found as he slowly ripped off the already tattered wrapping, thoughts swirling around as he hypothesized who the sender could be. He did have a small hope, deep in his chest, of one particular person, but he shushed it away, knowing it was impossible.

He carefully opened the flaps of the box, tape already broken open (and again, sloppily so). Inside, the case for Beyblade Burst: Battle Zero for the Nintendo Switch sat face up, the faces of colorful characters greeting him. Just peeking out from under it was an envelope. Moving the case, Tommy grabbed it, finding it to be sealed with a mess of multiple Minion and glittery smiley face stickers. With a smile, he ripped the top open, too fond of the stickers to risk tearing any of them. When he slipped the contents out, he gasped, eyes watering anew as he stared it down.

It was a Polaroid photo of him and Benrey. Benrey had extended his arm out, stretching it a tad to get the both of them in shot. He wore ridiculous, already smeared makeup of a cat, smiling lazy but wide, eyes crinkled as he looked to his right. And to his right was Tommy, laughing with a hand over his mouth, face red from it, a colorful striped party hat on his head and a can of silly spray in his other hand, the culprit behind the both of them being covered in silly string. They were both so happy, there was no denying.

It was from last year - Tommy’s thirty-fifth birthday.

He flipped it over, blinking tears out of his eyes to clear them away. On the back, there was messy chicken-scratch in glittery pink pen.

**sorry i cant make it - being dead is major sucks, i wish i could be there with my best bro, eating pizza and playing skeeball and borrowing the rats head like old times. i really really miss you, i hope you like the game, copped it from gamestop a week ago. ill see you soon, i promise**

**love, benrybenrybenrybenrybenrybenryb**

**Author's Note:**

> having ur friend become a final boss and killing him on ur birthday must sucks yo


End file.
